Salt Lake County OKs data storage funds

A controversial project by the Salt Lake County Recorder's Office will now be funded, after a heated political debate Tuesday.

The Salt Lake County Council voted 5-4 along party lines to approve a $45,000 payment to SIRE Technology for off-site data storage of county records. The project was the subject of a highly publicized audit, after accusations that Republican County Recorder Gary Ott sidestepped county contract policies to finance the data services.

Four months after the audit cleared his name, Ott said he believed the Democrats on the County Council were unfairly playing election-year politics to punish both him and SIRE by not paying the bill.

"If you are just going after me, that's not fair," said Ott, who is up for re-election in November.

The $45,000 will be used to purchase the off-site Web hosting equipment. In the past, the county leased the equipment from SIRE. However, no lease agreement or contract was ever signed.

The only documentation about the off-site Web server was a quote proposal with an unsigned letter attached, stating the county would end up paying an additional $230,000 over the course of four years for the data-management project.

All the Republicans on the council voted to pay for the project and support Ott.

The Democrats voted against the payment for a variety of reasons. Randy Horiuchi said the council should wait until next month and consider the matter during budget negotiations. Jenny Wilson said, "We need to have more information" before locking the county into an extended contract for a service the county might not need. Joe Hatch said the council should follow the advice in the audit, which said the county should allow sufficient time to make sure budget adjustments are understood before approval.

Ott said the whole mess can be attributed to the confusion of changing from a commission form of government to a council-mayor style.

"I followed the rules that were in place at the time I asked for this equipment," Ott said. "Then the rules started changing."

"I'm no expert on contracts," he added. "We've got a better system now."

---

E-mail: ldethman@desnews.com